


All I've Ever Known

by entiegon



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Angry Kai, Arguments, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, Near Drowning, Teambuilding, Trust Issues, Wilderness Survival, based in pilot season, between pilot episodes 2 and 3, feelings of being misunderstood, foraging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25607038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entiegon/pseuds/entiegon
Summary: All his life, Kai has had to work for himself to stay alive and keep his little sister alive. Now he's been thrown into a team he doesn't trust. But can he find it in himself to trust others to help him save his sister and himself?
Comments: 9
Kudos: 58





	All I've Ever Known

**Author's Note:**

> To all of you who are wondering where the next chapter of 'Birthdays' is, rest assured, I am working on it. In fact, while I was typing this one shot up, I've been working on chapter 2 of 'Birthdays' on paper (which is how I work; write, type, post etc). Thing is, while I'm working on 'Birthdays' I'm also working on an OC story at the same time. And it's tricky because there are elements of my OC story which are sort of in the background of in the 'Birthdays' one-shots. Thus, you can say that the two stories coincide with one another. You probably won't see the OC story up until after 'Birthdays' is completed, though. Then again, one can never be too sure with how things will play out.
> 
> Now that that's out of the way, here is some information about how this story came to be as well as some notes that I feel will help you understand some things within the story.
> 
> This story came into fruition as I was reading 'Breaking The Ice' by Electric-Bluejay on FanFiction.net. Both stories (mine and theirs) are based during the pilot season where Kai is trying to adjust to team life. And Kai is being stubborn about things. This story is specifically based between pilot episodes 2 and 3.
> 
> Also, in my story, it is mentioned that Kai can read how water reacts and knows exactly what that means. I believe that, because his mother was the previous Master of Water, he gained some innate knowledge on water despite him being more attuned to fire. I also feel that Nya has a similar knowledge towards heat temperatures and fire strengths thanks to her father despite claiming the ability over water.
> 
> Finally, I do switch from time to time with calling Wu Master and Sensei. It's because during the pilots, Wu was known as Sensei. So I wanted to pay that a little respect. Also, as I do karate myself, I call my karate masters Sensei, so I can understand that Master can also mean Sensei and vice versa.
> 
> My apologies for the long AN, but here is 'All I've Ever Known'. Hope you enjoy and please remember that I do not own anything within this story that has to do with Ninjago.

_“ What makes you think you’re more important than the team?”_

The words echoed in Kai’s head over and over again. Just like they had during the night and all through the next day. Now, they were on their third day after claiming the Scythe of Quakes… and there were a number of things that Kai refused to speak about to the other boys. That is, if he ever spoke to them at all.

If he was being truly honest, Kai didn’t trust any of his new ‘teammates’. Cole thought he could boss everyone around with his ‘do this’ and ‘do that’. He was practically teacher’s pet, always making sure that Master Wu’s orders were followed to the T. It infuriated him.

Jay was just as bad, if not worse. When Cole had called him the ‘Mouth of Lightning’ he wasn’t kidding. That kid never shut up. He was bound to tattle again if given the chance. Not to mention, he’d already started trying to hit on Nya… and she wasn’t even around for him to hit on!

The strangest out of the three, though, had to be that Zane kid. He was the silent type. And in Kai’s experience, silent meant deadly. But there was something odd about him as well. He didn’t understand… well, anything. So it was fair to say that Kai didn’t know what to think about the kid.

But he was stuck with all three of them. And the worst thing of all? None of them would help him find his sister and rescue her, least of all Master Wu. How was ‘controlling the fire that burns inside’ meant to help with saving his sister anyway?

“ We’ll stop here.” Master Wu called down from the horse carriage they were still pulling around.

As one, the four boys stopped running and heaved a sigh of relief. The old man may have been light on his feet in battle but pulling him around was no joke.

Upon looking around, however, Kai noticed they were still deep in the forest. They couldn’t already be at the next golden weapon site. There was not a single snowflake to be seen… and he was pretty sure the Shurikens of Ice would be buried somewhere in the snow.

“ Master Wu?” He heard Cole question, making him turn to the old man himself.

That’s when he noticed that there was a fork in the road. He had been so focussed on looking on either side of him during the ‘struggle’ that he hadn’t noticed the path below his feet begin to divert. At least he hadn’t run into the – now glaringly obvious – signpost.

“ I will take the right path and find us a boat to carry us to where the next golden weapon is located.” Master Wu was saying. “ I want the four of you to travel the path to the left. If memory serves me correctly, there should be a bend in the river further along which surrounds a small island. On that island are four pillars. It is at this island that I will meet you once I have found our next vessel. You must find a way to that island using only materials from the forest as well as build a shelter for yourselves should night begin to fall. And remember, this forest has many dangers. Trust in each other’s senses and guidance. It will carry you far.”

“ Yes, Sensei.” The four young ninja bowed in acceptance.

Master Wu was just about to make his way down the path to the right, having exited the horse carriage as he spoke, when he stopped and turned back to his pupils. His gaze landed squarely on Kai.

“ And, Kai, please try to do what is right for the team.”

Kai felt the blood rush to his face as the words reached his ears. Behind him, he could hear Jay’s struggles to keep his snickers silent. And he could practically feel Cole’s eyes boring into his back. The only good thing was that Zane was oblivious to the teasing and was instead worried about the horse carriage.

“ What shall we do about the horse carriage, Master Wu?” asked the innocent blond.

“ just move it off the path so that it’s not in the way and I will deal with that. You four best get moving.” Master Wu replied before turning around and starting down his path.

The four teens watched him walk away for a few minutes in silence before the burden of hiding his laughter became too much for Jay to handle.

“ And, what, exactly, are you laughing at?” Kai growled, turning on the blue clad boy.

“ Nothing. Nothing.” Jay stammered as he attempted to calm himself down.

“ Better be.”

Just for good measure, Kai made sure to knock into Jay as he started down the left path, completely ignoring the glares that were sent his way.

“ Kai.” Cole called after him. “ The horse carriage.”

The red ninja stopped in his tracks, pinched the bridge of his nose for a few seconds as he took a deep breath to calm himself, and turned back to the carriage. Jay and Cole could only look at each other, each one trying to figure out their new teammate, before following Kai over to the carriage where Zane was already waiting for them.

Once the carriage was off to the side of the road, the four made their way down the left path.

Of course, not five minutes into the walk, Jay started up with his non-stop talking. Admittedly, some of the questions he asked were acceptable for the situation they had found themselves in; such as asking about the various materials that would be needed to build the necessary things to survive in the forest and on a small island. But he also worried about the dangers of the forest and – to Kai’s chagrin – seemed keen on making jokes and bad puns about their predicament.

Surprisingly, Zane kept up with Jay’s questions. If needed, they could use their weapons to cut materials or else make needed tools themselves; essentially learning to survive in the wild. And, according to the usually quite boy, this particular forest was home to some nasty creatures and even some nasty plants. Kai really did not like the sound of some of those answers, if he was being honest with himself.

The most prominent danger, at least in Kai’s eyes, was the river itself. The depth of the water and the rushing current aside, he had no clue what could be lurking within. And the scary part was that he would have to cross it. Just the thought of having to cross the river sent chills rushing down his spine. And it was just his luck that Cole had to notice.

“ You alright, Kai?” the black ninja asked.

“ Why wouldn’t I be?” came the rather rude reply.

“ Just making sure. You seem uncomfortable about something.”

“ I’m just fine. The sooner we find this island, the sooner we can figure out how to get over to it and wait for Sensei.”

Cole still watched Kai closely, though. He could sense that there was something going on within the red ninja. Whether it was something good, however, was yet to be seen. Aside from being a stubborn hothead, the boy was just as hard to read as he was.

Apparently, Zane had been listening in to the curt exchange, though, because the white clad boy suddenly appeared beside Cole.

“ I suggest we make our way to the river bank and start our search from there.” He said, ignorant of the fact that Kai seemed to lock up at the mention of being near the water. “ As long as we keep the river within view, we should be able to spot our destination, or at least some landmarks to help us with where we need to go, and begin our search for the materials we may need.”

“ Or we could just stay on the path and hope to find the island a little closer to it.” Kai suggested, more to himself than anyone else.

“ But, that would not be wise, Kai. The path seems to curve back inland a little up ahead, thus making it so that we would be farther from our destination instead. And Master Wu would not be pleased if he arrived at the pillared island only to find that we are not there.”

Okay, so maybe the teacher’s pet was actually Zane and not Cole. If that was the case, Cole would have to be some kind of ‘goodie-two-shoes’ that was bent on making sure everyone else followed the rules as well. And Kai really wasn’t keen on paying attention to the rules unless they helped him rescue his sister.

“ And what if Master Wu gets there before we do anyway?” he questioned, the corner of his lip twitching.

Cole decided to but in at that point. “ Master Wu would probably wait for a bit before coming to find us. And if he finds us inland instead of closer to the island, he’s not going to be happy. We’re going to follow Zane’s suggestion and find the river.”

Without further questioning, the blank haired teen led the way in search of the river with Jay and Zane close behind. Kai had no option but to follow behind… although he did make sure to stay back a little in protest of being closer to a possible watery grave.

Cole led the team off the path and into the forest, using his scythe to hack away any denser foliage that was in their way. What wasn’t hacked at, was moved aside. And, more often that not, Jay would forget to hold the branches back for Kai to grab as he walked behind him, resulting in said branches smacking the red ninja in the face.

Needless to say, Kai was not happy to see the river once it came into view nearly an hour later. He was hot and tired. He hated to see what his hair looked like, though he was pretty sure that there were twigs and leaves in it by now. And Jay was really getting on his nerves… though, if it was any consolation, he seemed to be getting on Cole’s nerves as well.

“ Finally, the river!” the blue clad boy exclaimed, rushing over to the water and quickly splashing at his face.

“ I guess we can take a break for a little bit.” Cole said, giving in at the sight of the water. “ Maybe grab something to eat before we start the real search.”

He was quick to follow Jay’s example and splashed his own face with the cool liquid. Even Zane accepted what was to happen and followed in his leader’s example.

Kai, however hot he felt, kept back from the water’s edge. Despite the other three boys only dipping their hands into the water’s surface, he could tell that, further in, the river was moving fast. Somehow, he knew, just by looking at the water, that rapids were down river. Of course, he didn’t exactly know how he knew that. After all, he couldn’t swim. He just new that they would have to be careful not to fall into the water.

But that wasn’t the only thing that he noticed. His attention drawn to his pack as he pulled out his food package and took a swig of water from his canteen, Kai noticed that his food supplies were starting to run low. And he was more than sure that the others were running low too.

“ We might have to go foraging.” He called out, unimpressed with the world.

“ Why do you say that?” Jay asked looking up at him from his spot by the water’s edge.

“ Well… I don’t know about you three, but I only have a few mushyrooms, an apple, a couple of carrots and some jerky. Oh, and some blackberries and raspberries from the last town we came across.”

“ So, you’re saying Master Wu sent us down here for possibly more than a day with next to no food?!”

Now Jay was panicking. Even as Cole and Zane made their way over to their own packs that they had left by the tree nearest Kai. And, just like Kai had noted, they had about the same amount of food as the red ninja. Cole pulled out his apple, a slight frown on his face, while Zane pulled out a carrot.

“ Guess we eat light.” The black ninja shrugged before taking a bite of his apple.

“ But we gotta save the food!” Jay was practically exploding by this point.

Surprisingly, it worried Kai. The blue idiot was dancing about dangerously close to the water’s edge. If he moved even the slightest bit behind him, he’d be in the water. And Kai really didn’t feel like fetching him out of the fast-moving current of the water.

“ Will you calm down?” The red clad boy practically growled. “ And get away from the edge or you’ll fall in. We can go foraging in the forest as we continue past the rapids.”

That caught everyone’s attention.

“ Rapids!” Jay squeaked, jumping away from the water.

“ What rapids?” Cole asked, looking between what seemed to be relatively calm waters and the hard gaze of Kai.

“ Don’t ask be to explain it, I don’t know myself, but I can tell the river is moving fast as it heads down river.” Kai said, turning his gaze from Jay and choosing a carrot from his own supplies.

“ So you do have the sense.” Zane tried to confirm.

Kai just looked at him. “ No, Zane. I do not have whatever sense you have. I can just read the water.”

He then turned away from the blond and started chomping on his carrot. Jay calmed down as he and Cole continued to try and work out Kai. But he moved over to his pack and rummaged around in his own food supplies. After deciding on eating his apple, he leaned over to his best friend.

“ He seems touchy, today.” He whispered in Cole’s ear.

“ We’ll just keep an eye on him.” Cole whispered back.

The four boys ate in silence, though Cole and Jay both noted that Kai would often glance at the water. It was almost like he was trying to make sure that it wasn’t going to suddenly reach beyond the riverbanks and drag him under. Odd behaviour, sure, but they tried to put it out of their minds. Once they were done with their meal, the four set off in search of edible plants and, more importantly, the island with the pillars on it.

Foraging, as the boys found out, took up quite a bit of time. Aside from Zane picking some cattails from the riverside, they often had to wait as one of them rushed deeper into the forest. They even took turns in who would break away from the group.

Jay obviously had a thing for the colour blue because he kept finding wild blueberries whenever he went into the forest. Then again, there was the possibility that he didn’t really know what he was looking for to begin with.

Cole, for some reason, kept eyeing the river. At one point, he returned from his forest hunt with relatively sturdy branches and a large amount of stripped bark. He reasoned that if he tried to make at least one fishing rod, they may be able to catch some fish.

Zane picked up more unusual plants like sow thistle and Jerusalem star. And he received questioning looks when he returned with them. But the one thing that made Jay and Cole both laugh was when Kai returned with fistfuls of dandelions.

“ What do you think we’re going to do with those, Kai?” Jay laughed when he realised what was in Kai’s hands. “ Make flower crowns out of them?”

“ No. We can eat them.” Kai replied curtly.

Blue and black continued to laugh. Even Zane smiled at Kai. Unfortunately, Kai didn’t realise that the white ninja was actually thanking him for finding such a large amount of food and instead thought that he was being laughed at silently by the boy. In a huff, he threw the flowers to the ground and stormed off, his face red.

Once he felt he was far enough from the other three, he found a big enough tree to hide behind and sat down. Beside him was another patch of dandelions, struggling to reach the small patch of sun through the treetops. He broke one of the flowers off and stared at it.

“ Rice and dandelions.” He whispered to himself, ignoring the tightness in his stomach at the mention of the meagre meal. “ Bitter, but the best thing I could find when we had little to eat. And yet, I get ridiculed for even suggesting we eat a ‘weed’. And people wonder why I’d rather work alone.”

He threw the dandelion away from him before resting his head against the tree and closing his eyes. This was just one of the reasons why he didn’t trust the others. They obviously haven’t had to experience what he had been through. They would never understand.

With a sigh, he focused his ears on the surrounding forest. By the sounds of it, the rapids were close. He could hear them clearly now that he was alone, and it sounded like they were rushing quite fast through a number of rocks. Though, somehow, he could also sense that, with the speed they were going, they weren’t as dangerous as they could have been. Still, Kai had no intention of going near them any time soon if he could avoid it.

Thinking on it, though, he wasn’t surprised that he had caught up to the rapids. They had been walking for a few hours while foraging. At least half the day had already gone by if not more. And the fact that he had moved away from the other three only meant that he had travelled more ground. But he knew he’d probably have to go back soon. Either that or start working on a place to spend the night.

“ Kai!”

Kai’s eyes snapped open as he heard his name being called. It sounded like Zane. But what was he doing searching for him? Cautiously, he stood up and emerged from his hiding place.

“ Zane?” He called back in response.

Zane emerged from around a tree not far from his. Spotting who he was looking for, the white ninja gave a smile and made his way closer.

“ There you are. I got worried when you ran off.” He said as he stopped in front of the red clad boy.

“ Why? I thought you didn’t like the idea of eating dandelions.”

“ Oh no. I believe you when you say we can eat them. Although I do not believe I have had them myself. I’ve been told that, despite their apparently bitter taste, they are quite nutritious.”

“ So that smile wasn’t your way of laughing at me?”

“ Not at all. I had thought that you did not like being thanked for your contribution. Although, both Cole and Jay are sorry they laughed at you.”

Kai scoffed and turned his gaze away. “ How can you be so sure about that? They seem to like laughing at my expense.”

“ Because we’ve only ever thought of dandelions as weeds.” Cole’s voice explained from behind Zane.

Instantly, Kai stiffened and forced himself to look up and beyond Zane’s shoulder.

Sure enough, there were Cole and Jay. They were walking a little slowly, but it was clear on their faces that they knew they had done wrong. As they got closer, though, Kai could tell that they had yet to actually figure out what it was they had done wrong. Either that or they were a little confused about the strong reaction Kai had to the situation they had put him in. All the same, it was just another example that they didn’t understand.

“ We never realised that there could be so much good stuff packed into them.” Jay added, rubbing at the back of his neck. “ Zane told us everything he knew about them.”

Kai turned to face the white ninja in question.

“ It is true. I did say that I was told about the properties of the plant. In fact, before Master Wu found me, a hermit taught me how to make dandelion soup. As I said before, though, I don’t remember actually trying the soup myself. It was the hermit who told me of the plant’s nutritional values.” White nodded.

“ Right.” Kai sighed, turning back around.

His intent was to see what else they could forage from the forest, or even to use as a way to get across the water or for building shelters. But all he could find were leaves and roots littering the ground and tree branches that were too high up to reach. Not to mention, those same tree branches were too thick to cut down with a sword or a scythe. In other words, there was nothing of use here.

Behind him, Cole went on to explain that they should split the food they had found between them. Zane even suggested finding some edible mushrooms to add some more variety to the diet. But Kai wasn’t paying much attention. His focus was on their surroundings… specifically on the ground in front of him.

He wasn’t sure, but he could feel eyes on him. And the fact that they were so close to the rapids meant that they weren’t able to hear if anyone snuck up on them. Something he did not like the idea of.

That’s when he noticed something move under the leaf litter. Something dark and that moved fast. What was it that Master Wu had said about the forest? Something about danger? Another flash of darkest off to the side made Kai turn his head in search of whatever was running around them.

“ I don’t know about you three, but I think we need to keep moving.” The fire ninja said, turning to face the other three boys.

“ But I was looking forwards to another break!” Jay whined, sitting down next to a rather large pile of roots and leaves.

“ We can have a break when we get out of this area.”

“ Kai, we need a break now.” Cole insisted. “ We’ve been walking for hours.”

“ And we’re too close to the rapids, here. They’re blocking out the sound of anything else that could be a threat.”

Another two streaks of black chose that exact moment to run through the leaf litter. And this time, Jay noticed it. In an instant he was back on his feet.

“ W-what was that?” He stuttered.

“ What was what?” Cole asked.

“ Something just moved. Under the leaves.”

Another dash of black set Jay stepping backwards, closer to the tree he had been sitting under. This also meant that he was closer to the pile of leaves and roots. Almost as soon as Jay had taken his step backwards, a loud clatter of ‘kek-kek’ sounds started echoing through the trees surrounding the four boys. Accompanying the sounds, a white mouthed head popped up from the undergrowth, barking in Jay’s direction.

“ What is that?” Jay asked again, his voice high than he was minutes ago.

Zane looked quizzically at the creature as two, three, four more heads popped up. “ I believe they could be river minks.”

“ They look angry.”

“ They probably are.” Kai stated, eyeing the little creatures warily. “ I think you’re standing next to their nest.”

“ Yipe!”

Jay sprung away from the pile of roots and leaves and inched his way around the still barking river minks. He was even apologising to the creatures as he did so. Kai couldn’t help himself but put his head in his hand at the sight before him.

But the minks seemed to calm down somewhat now that their den was in less danger than it had been when they had arrived. Of course, they were still wary of the humans standing by their den. And the young ninja realised this. Without a word, Jay, Cole and Zane started to back away from the minks and their den, leaving Kai to turn to pick up his pack. Only, when the red ninja turned to get it, he noticed one of the younger looking minks poking its head into said pack.

“ Hey! Get out of it!” the red ninja growled, storming over to the mink and picking it up.

Instantly, the mink started screaming and twisting around in Kai’s grip, trying to bite free. This called its family members into action and they started up with the barking again. The next thing Kai knew, he was being swarmed by the slippery animals.

“ Put it down, Kai!” Cole ordered.

For once, Kai listened. As quickly as he could, he lowered the squirming creature to the ground without the intention of dropping it. Unfortunately, with the mink squirming around so much, that’s exactly what happened. How it managed to survive the fall without hitting its head surprised all who saw it twisting in the air. But one thing was for sure, Kai did not like those sharp teeth biting into him. As soon as his hands were free, he snagged his pack from the reach of the angry minks and jumped out of the ring he had found himself in.

“ Let’s get out of here.” He said, already running down river out of the area.

When Kai glanced behind him to make sure he wasn’t being followed by vengeful river vermin, he noticed that Cole, Jay and Zane were close behind him. Thankfully, their longer legs meant that they were able to take longer strides, thus leaving the minks well behind. Of course, that was besides the fact that the minks had stopped chasing them a little while ago.

Even so, once the ninja had finally stopped to take a breath, Cole couldn’t help but glare at Kai. Although, he did succeed in keeping his hands to himself despite clearly wanting to hurt the red clad boy.

“ Why did you do that?” He questioned with a growl.

“ Do what? Stop those things from stealing what was in my pack?” Kai barked back.

“ Why did you have to pick it up?”

“ I just told you it was going through my stuff. Or would you rather I not have a pack to help carry things in?”

“ There could have been other ways of getting the mink away from the pack, Kai!”

“ Oh, yeah? Like what?”

Silence.

Kai scoffed. “ Didn’t think so. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and clean my hands and legs off. Who knows what those things were carrying on them.”

“ Don’t you run off again, Kai.” Cole warned.

“ Or you’ll do what?”

“ It’s not what I would do to you. It’s what you could do to yourself.”

“ What do you know?”

“ For one, you could hurt yourself badly if you were alone. Or you could do worse.”

“ Oh, so you care about me?”

“ Of course I care! You’re part of the team.”

“ No. I’m not. I’m only here to find and rescue my sister. Then I’m going back to the blacksmith forge and forgetting about everything that’s happened.”

Without another word, Kai spun on his heels and stormed off through the trees. He didn’t care if anyone followed him or not. He had to get away from the others. They just didn’t understand.

What he didn’t know was that he left behind three stunned boys; each one wondering what they had done to wrong him and why he didn’t want to trust in them.

By the time Kai had made it past the rapids and to a safe edge alone the riverbank, it was well into the afternoon. He quickly washed off his hands and ankles where the needle-sharp teeth of the river minks had caught his skin before splashing at his face. But even as he stood up again, he couldn’t stop his mind from working overtime about where he had found himself.

He was alone in a forest with untold, hidden dangers. He was hot, tired, hungry and sore. It was getting late, so he had to find or make some kind of shelter. And the reason why he was there? He had decided to follow some old man and train with him in an attempt to find and rescue his little sister. He got thrown into a team of weirdos that he still didn’t trust and continuously gets yelled at by them for doing things the only way he knows how.

The strangest part was, as they were foraging together, Kai started to feel like maybe he could trust Cole, Jay and Zane.

“ I was wrong, though.” He muttered to himself. “ I can’t trust them. I can’t trust anyone. They’ll never understand what I’ve been through, what I’ve had to do. This stupid search for these stupid weapons is just a waste of time. If Wu had’ve just led me to where I needed to go to get my sister back, we would have already been home by now.”

He heaved a sigh before glancing up beyond the treetops in an attempt to gauge what time it was. He never wore a watch. It was too dangerous to wear one around the forge. That’s why he usually kept the old clock near the till working. But he could guess where the sun was, and that was enough of a sign to know that he really needed to find shelter.

Being near the river would be ideal, too. As long as he wasn’t too close to the water’s edge and there weren’t any animal burrows in the area that he chose, he should be fine for the night. He also figured the flattest area would be the better area. After all, he did not want to end up rolling downhill and into the river while he slept.

Sadly, and he didn’t want to admit this to anyone, but he wasn’t that good a camper. In fact, it would be safe to assume that he hadn’t been on anything remotely resembling a camping trip before until he met Master Wu. He was really going off what he had overheard other families in Ignacia Village doing on their camping trips.

“ Okay.” He told himself, trying to get his mind to focus on the task before him. “ It’s getting late. You need to do something about a shelter for the night before it gets dark. There are no caves around here and the tree hollows around the place are too small for me to even fit in. Guess you gotta start looking for logs.”

With a firm nod of his head, Kai started his task. With every log he came across, he made sure nothing was living inside it before trying to drag it to the relatively flat patch of land he had chosen between two relatively large trees. Bonus, the place was a good distance away from the river where he had cleaned himself, too. Unfortunately, every log he found was a lot heavier than he expected and so a lot harder to move than he first thought.

Within the timespan of an hour, he had only managed to get three logs down to his little clearing. Three decent sizes logs that he would have to tie together somehow and possibly add to if he was going to be sheltered for the night. Not to mention he had had a hard time just getting the logs to where they needed to be, what with all the snags they seemed to love finding. To top it all off, though, it was getting darker.

How Kai managed to find a few more logs as well as a ton of vines in the growing darkness was beyond him. But he managed it. He even managed to tie all seven logs together with the vines and get them to lean up against one of the trees.

But he knew it was a measly lean-to. For one, it was small. He could just lie down in it and be (mostly) hidden from the other side of the logs if he curled up. For another, it had spaces between the logs that he wasn’t able to find fillings for in the dying light.

All in all, it was a crude attempt at a shelter. But it would have to do. In the dying light, Kai pulled out his second carrot and ate that for his dinner before curling up in his lean-to and falling asleep. His final thoughts for the day were, surprisingly, prayers that the others had managed to set up a better camp than he had been able to.

\---

Morning came around all too quickly for Kai. And with it came a chilly wind that seemed to rattle his very bones. During the night, with the cold surrounding him, the fire ninja had not slept well. And he couldn’t afford to light a fire. It had gotten too dark for him to see anything clearly after making his lean-to. Needless to say, he was feeling more than a little worse for wear.

Going over to the river, he splashed his face and had a drink before returning to his bag. In the morning light, he was better able to see what he was grabbing at. So, for breakfast, he pulled out some berries, the mushyrooms and a dandelion. Somehow, he knew it would be the most food he would eat until he next saw Master Wu. And he knew that he would have to face Master Wu and the others again soon before he was able to get to his sister and get her home.

For now, though, he had a pillared island to find.

Well, it was either that or go find the other three teenagers that Wu called his ‘team’.

Surprisingly, it took Kai a good five minutes to even make up his mind on what he was going to do. He had figured he didn’t need anyone’s help in looking for his sister. So, because of that thinking, he shouldn’t have to go back and look for the other three. It’s always been just him and Nya after all, even if they did have regular babysitters when they were younger.

But there was also some nagging part in the back of his mind that urged him to turn around and find the others. And alongside it (or quite possibly because of it) Master Wu’s voice was echoing that there was danger in the forest. Minks couldn’t really be classed as dangerous to humans either, so that meant that there were meaner dangers in the forest. If that was the case, it probably wasn’t wise for him to be wandering the place alone.

Yet he still didn’t feel like he could trust Jay, Cole and Zane. That was why he ran off on them in the first place. There was just no way they’d understand where he was coming from when he talked about doing certain things. Like when they had talked back before they had obtained the Golden Scythe, none of them would have been seen together if not for Master Wu putting them in the same team together. After all, with what he was told about the others testing limits and inventions and such, and if it weren’t for the old spinjitzu master, Kai would still be trying to forge weapons to earn enough money to keep both him and his little sister alive.

“ Stop thinking about that, Kai.” The red ninja chastised himself. “ You know full well that they wouldn’t understand what you’ve been through, so stop trying to reason with yourself about going back. They still can’t be trusted. Now get moving and start looking for that island. The sooner you find it, the sooner you can start to look for a way to safely reach it.”

With a shake of his head to clear it, he began his search for the pillared island. He made sure to keep in sight of the river as he travelled inland a little bit. After all, as much as he didn’t trust the other boys, he had even less trust for any body of water larger than a bathtub. Yet, he also found himself marking the trees he passed.

He told himself it was so he didn’t get lost, but part of him knew it was to let the rest of his team know which way he had gone after breaking camp.

\---

“ Are you even sure he came down this way?” Jay asked as he, Cole and Zane continued through the forest in the direction Zane had said the red ninja had gone.

To be completely honest, it had not only shocked the three of them, what Kai had said the day before, but it kind of hurt as well. It proved that the boy had to have some trust issues, otherwise he would have been more accepting of them. At least, that’s what Jay hoped.

But Cole had been determined to go after him even as night fell. Even now, Jay had no idea how he managed to convince the earth ninja to help set up camp for the night. But, somehow, they had managed to put together a decent little lean-to in the spot where Cole and Kai had had their fight. And, if he was honest with himself, Jay was kind of glad that Cole hadn’t stormed off during the night, just to get Kai back, like he had threatened to do.

Now, though, Cole had taken the lead in trying to find the missing teen. Both Jay and Zane had let him lead since morning had broken. They could both see that he was itching to get out to wherever Kai had found himself; half worried for his safety, half wanting to put him back in his place. Most of the walk down river had been silent because of Cole’s urgent mood.

“ Yes, Jay. He came down this way.” Cole grumbled for what felt like the hundredth time, in reality it was only the third.

“ But how do you know?”

“ Because how many forests have poorly made lean-to’s placed against a slightly thin looking tree?” Here, Cole gestured to said lean-to in clear annoyance.

“ On the contrary, Cole, it is a decent sized tree.” Zane piped up. “ It only seems thin because of the trees surrounding it being older than it is.”

Both Cole and Jay turned to the white ninja in clear confusion.

“ I thought you were the master of ice?” Jay questioned. “ How can you tell how old a tree is?”

“ If what Master Wu says is correct, then I am, indeed, the master of ice. But it is, or rather should be, common knowledge that as a tree grows, it forms new layers of bark around its trunk. Thus, the older trees are thicker than the younger trees, due to them having many more years to layer bark around their trunks. I do not, however, know the exact age of a tree without first cutting it down in order to count its life rings. Please note that I do not intend to do so, either.”

“ Okay.” The blue ninja said slowly, clearly not understanding a word of what White had said.

Cole, however, had lost interest in the aging of trees and had gone to investigate the lean-to. Due to the fact that there weren’t that many logs making up the lean-to, and the fact that they were spaced out somewhat, the earth ninja could clearly tell that it had been a rush job to get the shelter up. It wasn’t surprising, either, with how far Kai had run the night before. But with the night having been a cold one, Cole worried about how Kai had managed to keep warm.

“ Oh, Kai.” He muttered under his breath. “ Why did you run off?”

Of course, he knew there was a high possibility that he would never get his answer. And he liked to think that would be because of Kai’s stubbornness and not any other, more dangerous reason. The last thing he wanted to think about was losing someone else he knew, despite the fact that the person in question wasn’t that well known to him.

Still, there was one thing that played a big part in the question of why Kai had run off. The three of them knew next to nothing about Kai other than he had a sister that needed rescuing, he was a bit of a hothead, and he obviously didn’t trust many people. Heck, Kai hadn’t even told the others how Master Wu had found him. It was almost like the fire ninja was even more closed off that he was.

“ Hey Cole! I found something!” Jay’s voice penetrated Cole’s thoughts.

His attention caught, Cole turned away from the lean-to to find both Jay and Zane over by another tree a little closer to the river’s edge. Jay was waving him over while Zane had his hand on the tree, examining it with interest.

“ What is it?” The black ninja asked, as he made his way over to his friends.

“ An arrow.” Jay claimed.

“ What?”

Didn’t Jay realise that ‘an arrow’ gave no information? What was he even on about?

Once Cole had stopped by Jay and Zane, the white ninja moved his hand away from the tree. That’s when he realised what it was Jay was talking about. As previously mentioned, there was an arrow carved into the tree. And, judging by the fact that it pointed down river, it could only mean one thing.

“ This carving is still relatively fresh.” Zane explained. “ Perhaps a couple of hours ago.”

“ The same length of time it would have taken us to get here.” Cole mused.

“ It appears so.”

Jay turned to look at his friends, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. “ Do you think Kai left it?”

Cole shrugged. “ Possibly. He is the only other human that we know of travelling this forest with the river insight and heading down river. But why would he mark his path for us after that argument last night?”

“ Perhaps he has thought about his actions during the night?” Zane questioned.

“ Or maybe he’s starting to trust us.”

“ Well, let’s go then!” Jay urged, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. “ I bet if we get going now at a run, we might be able to catch up with Kai.”

Before either Cole or Zane could say anything, Jay had already turned and started running down the path the arrow was indicating. He stopped about two trees down before he pointed to the tree he had stopped at and motioned for his friends to follow. Zane and Cole turned to each other before the black ninja gave a shrug and ran off to meet with the blue clad boy, white following closely behind.

\---

Kai stepped back from the tree he had just finished marking. He had spent the entire morning stopping every few trees to mark the path he was taking so that people he didn’t really trust would follow him and know where he was. Something didn’t add up there.

“ Gah! It’s what Sensei would want me to do.” He told himself, turning back to face the water.

It had been hours since he had left the end of the rapids, and his camp, but he noted that the waters were still moving fairly fast. And just a little bit ahead, the river branched off slightly so that it travelled around an island. By the looks of it, it was a small and fairly flat island with a single hill in its centre. But that didn’t matter as it was the island Kai was looking for.

In the centre of the island, resting on the small hill, were four pillars rising to the sky. A circle of bushes surrounded the hill the pillars sat on. But while Kai was relieved to see the island, he was terrified of crossing the rather large channel of water that surrounded it. The fast-moving current, not helping with that fear at all.

The sad part was, and he had no clue as to how he knew this, but Kai had a really strong feeling that the bend only got wider from there. And knowing that scared him. Still, there had to be a thinner section of the river that led to the island.

With that thought in mind, Kai repositioned his pack over his shoulder and started walking around the bend. This time, though, he did not mark a trail, just in case his gut feeling proved right and he ended up having to turn back.

He was an hour into his walk when the forest merged into a sandbank. As suspected, the river bend was getting wider… and longer if the fact he still couldn’t see the other end of the island was anything to go by. Not to mention, as he looked back into the water, he could see the ripples where there were rocks submerged. Some of the rocks even had their tips poking out of the river in staggered places. Hanging his head, Kai leg out a groan.

“ I’m going to have to go back.” He grumbled to himself.

There was no way he was going to spend yet another cold night in the forest under a measly lean-to with the island tauntingly in his sight. But going back would mean that he’d, eventually, have to catch up with Jay, Cole and Zane. And he was not looking forward to that meeting. They’d probably question him and get angry at him for running off again. Then again, a part of him (a small part, mind you) was beginning to wonder why they hadn’t yet met up again.

On the plus side, going back also meant that there was a shorter distance to travel across the river to get to the island. Even if it did have a fast-moving current surrounding it. He’d just have to fashion something to keep him moving in the general direction. That, and he knew he’d have to face the water eventually.

“ Might as well start building that raft.”

So, as he made his way back to the stop where he had made his last mark, Kai made it his mission to gather decent sized logs and whatever he could find to turn into rope.

Unlike the night before, he only found one decent log that wasn’t hollow and a few strands of vines. And, to be completely honest with himself, getting that log to where he wanted it to go was proving to be tougher than Kai thought. The log would often get caught on various snags in the forest undergrowth as he pushed it along. And if he was going to be using the vines to make a raft, he really couldn’t afford to use them and then have them snap.

Getting back to his marked tree took longer than the hour spent getting to the edge of the sandbank. Much longer. And despite his physical strength being stronger than the average teenager due to his work as a blacksmith, he was no Cole. He was pretty sure that kid had superhuman strength or something. So, by the time he did reach the tree, he was that drained of energy that he practically flopped over the log as it hit yet another snag.

“ I feel dead.” He groaned slowly.

Before he knew what he was doing, Kai closed his eyes, attempting to regain some of his lost energy before he had to figure out a way across the river. He didn’t notice the makings of a raft a little further down from where he lay or the three abandoned packs lying next to it.

\---

Kai was woken by the odd sound of snuffling. Beyond that, he could hear what sounded like a block of wood being repeatedly struck against the ground. Confused, he started to get up off the rather uncomfortable log he was lying on and turned his head to try and pinpoint the noises. He did not expect to come face to face with a fanged deer.

“ Ahhh!” He screamed, pulling himself backwards in an attempt to get away from the rather curious creature.

Also startled, the deer reared up slightly on its hind legs as it turned around before bolting for the safety of the far trees. This caused the rest of its heard to bolt as well. Even the deer with the strangely familiar blue sack on its head bolted. But, as it was having troubles seeing where it was going, it bounded straight for Kai.

Seeing the danger he was in, the red ninja tried to hurry back onto his feet. He succeeded… only to be knocked into the river by the force of the panicked animal knocking into him. At first, he was too stunned to realise what had happened. But as he dropped into the river and opened his mouth to take in a gulp of air, he found the water rushing in instead.

Instantly, his eyes went wide as he began panicking and flailing his arms around in an attempt to get his head above water. It was only as his head managed to break the water’s surface and he was able to get some air into his lungs that he realised what was happening. He was in the river, being pulled by the current through the river bend. And he couldn’t swim.

“ No.” He spluttered, trying to keep the water out of his mouth. “ NO!”

He couldn’t be in the water. He couldn’t go down like this. Nya still needed him. Nya! Who would rescue Nya if he wasn’t around? Who would take her back to the blacksmith forge and work with her to stay alive? Would she even be able to return to the forge, return home? If he… if he… she’s be all alone in the world if he…

Dare he say it, he was afraid. He didn’t want to die… especially by water. He had no idea where Nya was, no idea where Cole or Jay or Zane were. Heck, he didn’t even know where Master Wu had gone off to. And he’d give anything to see those faces once more, even if the water was going to drag him to his doom as he saw them. At least he would get to see them one last time. Swallowing another gulp of fast-moving water as he was dragged back down again, he realised what he needed to do.

Pushing himself up out of the water, he took in as big a breath as he could manage.

“ Help!” He yelled, managing to pull an arm above his head. “ Help! Somebody!”

The water dunked him again, but he got his head back out of the water, continuing to yell out. It was as the current spun him slightly that he realised something important. With each time he managed to pull his head out of the water, the effort to do so was being drained from his already weak body. And his panic addled mind was not helping his situation. If nobody heard him, he’d die.

“ Help me! Please! Somebody!” He continued to yell, trying not to think about the fact that his voice was getting weaker. “ I’m sorry! I’m sorry… I was such… such a jerk! Please help!”

With his back turned to the island he was supposed to get to, he didn’t realise that he had been heard. He also didn’t notice that he was making a fast approach to the rocks he had seen earlier as he travelled towards the sandbank when he was still on dry land. All he heard, as he was dragged under yet again, was the sound of something diving into the water and a mangled name that sounded oddly like his being called out. Then he was slammed into a rock and everything went black.

Waking up was confusing. Kai couldn’t quite tell where he was or what was going on. And he couldn’t be sure if he was dead or not. At one point, he felt dirt on the side of his head and what he could see was all blurry. That moment didn’t last long before he was back in the darkness. At another point, he heard his name being mentioned amongst garbled words being spoken by voices he was pretty sure he had heard before. Again, the moment didn’t last long, but at least this time Kai could feel his own body.

When he finally did wake up properly, it was with a start. Taking in large gasps of air, Kai sat up to find himself half dressed (his ninja top and hood were resting on a large rock beside him) and a warm campfire roaring beside him.

“ I’m alive?” He whispered, mostly to himself. “ I’m alive.”

“ Of course you are alive, Kai. I would not let you drown.” A familiar voice replied off to his side.

Turning to the sound of the voice, the red ninja found Zane sitting on the other side of the rock by the fire. Like him, the white ninja was also topless; his own cloths sharing the rock for warmth. Looking around the campfire, Kai finally noticed that both Jay and Cole were sitting on his other side. And both were smiling at him, the looks on their faces clearly showing that they were as relieved as he was that he was alive.

“ Welcome back!” Jay exclaimed excitedly, although he didn’t jump up like Kai thought he was going to.

“ Glad you’re safe.” Cole added. “ But why didn’t you say anything about… you know?”

For some reason, hearing that question sent Kai on edge. “ You don’t like admitting that you’re afraid of… what was it? Dragons?”

“ Well, no.” the earth ninja admitted.

“ Well, I don’t like admitting that I can’t swim… amongst other things.”

“ There is not shame in admitting your fears, Kai.” Zane pointed out as gently as he could. He even added a soft smile as he spoke.

“ Yeah, well, there are some things I just can’t afford to do.”

Silence fell among the camp. Kai positioned himself so he was sitting in from of the fire instead of lying in front of it, staring intently at the beckoning flames. Cole, Jay and Zane could only watch as he worked his jaw. Clearly, this was a sensitive subject. But, at the same time, it confused them. Why couldn’t Kai afford to do things? What had happened to him?

It was Jay who broke the silence. “ So you can’t afford to show weakness or whatever, yet you seem to enjoy blowing your top at us whenever possible. I don’t get it.”

“ Neither do I.” Zane admitted. “ How does one ‘blow their top’ if they are not even wearing tee-shirts?”

“ It’s an expression, Zane.”

“ Oh.”

Kai heaved a sigh, trying to sort out the thoughts running rampant in his head. Should he tell these people about his life? _Could_ he tell them? They had saved his life, after all. Telling them about what they had saved would be the least he could do for them. If he could trust them with his life…

“ When we first left the monastery, I asked how Master Wu found you all.” He said slowly, not looking away from the fire. “ I never told you how he found me.”

The others fell silent, allowing Kai the space he needed to tell his story.

Kai continued after another, smaller sigh. “ When Master Wu found me, I kicked him out of my blacksmith forge. Not long after that, the skeletons showed up and ransacked the place, kidnapping my sister in the process. I agreed to let Master Wu train me so I could get better at protecting my sister… protecting the one thing I had left. Protecting Nya, keeping her alive and healthy, doing things on my own to survive… that’s all I’ve ever known.”

“ But… what about your parents?” Jay asked carefully.

“ What parents? Mine disappeared when I was five and Nya, three.”

Two pairs of eyes went wide at this revelation. Zane turned his head to the flames himself, keeping his own thoughts and secrets locked away for another time.

“ So, yeah. I’ve had to do things for myself ever since I can remember. Being part of a team… that’s new for me.” Kai finished.

He then proceeded to wrap his arms around his knees and lower his head to them. And he would have spent the whole night like that too… if he hadn’t felt a hand rest on his naked shoulder. Looking up, he saw Cole smiling gently down at him, a warm glint in his eyes highlighted by the blazing fire.

“ Well, you’ve got us now. We’ll help you get your sister back.” The team leader said, Jay nodding his head furiously behind him. “ Though I have a feeling Master Wu is planning on using those golden weapons we’re collecting in order to help rescue Nya as well.”

Finally, Kai smiled at the three boys surrounding him. Maybe he could trust these three weirdos after all. But still… one thing bugged him.

“ Hey, how did you three end up on the island?” He asked, finally noting that the fire he sat at was positioned in the middle of the four pillars he had seen.

“ Would you believe _someone_ thought it would be a good idea to try and chop down a branch that had a bee hive attached to it?” Cole replied, looking pointedly at Jay as he spoke.

“ In my defence, I had no idea the bee hive was on that branch!” the blue ninja huffed.

“ Would the buzzing not give them away?” Kai asked.

“ Like I said, I thought the hive was on a different branch.”

“ Anyway, he came screaming towards us, angry bees in tow, and the three of us ended up ditching our packs and the raft we were making and jumping into the river to get away. The current was too fast for us, though, and we ended up washing onto the island.” Cole finished.

“ oh, so it was _your_ pack that the deer had on its head.” Kai smirked.

“ Excuse me?”

“ I was knocked into the river by a deer. And the deer that knocked me over had a blue pack stuck to its head. I have a feeling it was Jay’s pack.”

“ What?!” Jay exclaimed as the others laughed. “ Oh, that’s just great!”


End file.
